I'm trying to block out the noises, but the pained roar of a werewolf bleeds through. I quickly unplug my ears and spin around, taking in the scene. A citizen is clinging to my lover's back, a dagger in the werewolf's shoulder. I don't even realize how angry I am until I have her pinned to the ground, my fist connecting with her face. How dare she attack my lover! I might not be pleased with the Khajiit , but I still love her. I only stop punching when I feel someone tugging on my leggings, I pull back and see my lover is the one who's stopped me. I nod and get off the woman, pushing her towards the infected. She refuses to leave the city with them (she isn't sick), but a roar from my lover sends her fleeing. Actually, it sends quite a few people fleeing, and I can even feel my heart picking up its pace. I yank the knife from the werewolf's shoulder, pat her back when I hear her yelp, and tell her, "You'll have to work on that, imagine how useful a roar like that would be in battle.". She offers no answer, simply snarling at a slow sickened person. When the infected are gone I look around for casualties, and can't find any. There's only one wound, but that's my lover's shoulder. It'll heal up soon enough. I give a few commands, then tell my werewolf companion, "Come on, let's go home.". She nods and trots beside me, occasionally sniffing the air. Our trip is uneventful, but something is going on near our house.

We see the smoke before anything, and begin running. My lover is much quicker than me, and arrives at the house before me. She scrabbles at the wooden door, unable to open it. I go and bang against it, but it refuses to open. Finally, my lover lowers her head, backs up, and charges. The wood shatters around her skull, but my lover falls to the ground. I step around her, the werewolf slowly getting up. I hear a yelling from the spare room, and burst in to find Jordis tied up. She's still fighting to free herself, but she's coughing badly around the gag in her mouth. I cut her lose, the woman running away as quick as she can. I hear a roar from upstairs, and make my way up to the second story. The smoke is so heavy that it burns my eyes, scratches my lungs, and itches my skin. I cough a few times, forcing myself to keep going. The entire level is one fire, our dog standing on the table. Damn it, the girls will kill me if I let him die. I leap across the flames, snatch the dog up, and leap back. My metal shoes are melting, but my feet aren't burned. I throw the hound downstairs, the beast yelping as he runs away. Finally, I rush up to the top floor. The fire hasn't spread this far, but the smoke is thick enough that I can't see. However, I can hear a commotion. I stumble into our room, and draw my sword at the sight I manage to see through the smog. Sissel and Britte tied up, my lover caught in a net, and a figure on our bed.

He's wearing a typical outfit of a Crusader of The Nine, but that group was destroyed during The Oblivion Crisis. However, I don't have time to think about that as he lunges at me. I slash at him, but he nimbly leaps around me and out the door. I want to kill him, but my family is of bigger importance. I cut the rope holding the girls, pushing them towards the door as I scream, "Go! Go!". They both run as quick as they can, Britte practically dragging Sissel. I can only hope they don't run into the figure. I fall to one knee, coughing. I force myself up, and cut the ropes holding my lover. She doesn't move. I shake her, but she doesn't even twitch. I roll her head towards me, her eyes blankly gazing at nothing. Oh shit. I put my head to her chest, her heart barely beating. What in oblivion happened?! She's only been in here a few minutes! I keep shaking her, the werewolf's breathes hardly raising and lowering her chest. I grab onto her arm, and begin yanking. The woman hardly moves. I yank up on her arm, forcing her on top of me. Finally, I position her like she's a pelt across my back. I'm barely able to stand, but I somehow manage to. I close my burning eyes, my lungs roasting inside my body. I take one step, then another. I mentally count in my mind, heat licking at my feet as I walk on the second level. Breathing is becoming difficult, and I suddenly lean forward and vomit.

Damn, I need to get out of here! I see a light ahead of me, and I think I'm on the bottom level. One step, two steps, three steps. Finally, clean air rushes into my lungs. I fall to the side, my barely breathing lover falling off of me. I hear someone speaking, but it takes a few seconds before I understand their words. I look up and see Jordis standing over me as she yells, "Where is Lydia?!". I weakly shrug, and the woman curses before telling me, "She was tied up near the Arcane Enchanter!". I groan and get to my feet, but Jordis is back in the house before I can fully stand. I fall down on my ass, Jordis bursting from the smoke with Lydia in her arms. She throws her fellow housecarl to the ground, putting her head to her chest. Jordis curses, and leans forward to kiss Lydia. The sight is so strange that it takes a few moments before I realize Jordis is giving Lydia the kiss of life. Britte and Sissel are crying, both of them looking at Lydia's body. After what seems like an eternity, Jordis pulls back and pushes Lydia to the side. The once dead housecarl violently vomits, the children crying in joy at her awakening. I flip over and crawl to my lover, feeling for a pulse. It's faint, but it's there. She's probably just passed out from smoke, the best thing for it is fresh air. Suddenly, the guards arrive, all of them screaming at the burning house. I'm lifted into the air by a few sets of arms, but the world is blurring and I feel myself slip into unconsciousness.

I slowly wake up, a healer shining a flame into my eye. I smack her hand away and force myself to sit up, looking around. We're in The Blue Palace, surrounded by healers. Lydia is groggily awake on a bed to my right, Jordis holding her hand. Good to know the two seem to be getting along a little better. Suddenly, I feel two weights leap on me. I'm panicking, then I hear their cries of, "Mom! Mom! Mom!". I let the children hug on me a little, then push them off. They both stay by my side, but don't crawl all over me again. I look to my left and see my lover in her regular form, but she's still unconscious. I slowly get off the bed, my weak legs shaking. I manage to stumble over to her, checking for a pulse. Nothing. I'm about to panic, then the tiniest beat occurs. I send a prayer of thanks to every god whose name I know. A healer rushes up to me, forcing me back onto my bed. I allow it, but ask her, "What happened?". She nervously gulps and says, "Your servant had better tell you.". Jordis heard 'your servant' and is over in a minute, pushing the healer away. Jordis motions for the children to go away, but tells them, "Don't play outside! And, watch that dog of yours!". They scurry off, their hound happily bounding after their heels. Lydia shakily gets up, walks over, and leans on Jordis for support. I expect my housecarl to push the other woman away, but instead she wraps her arm around her middle and supports her weight.

Lydia clears her throat and manages to croak, "Want me to tell her?". Jordis shakes her head and says, "You can answer some of the questions I'm sure she'll have, but I'll tell her the story.". Lydia nods and I snap, "Someone tell me what's going on!". Jordis swallows nervously and begins, "We heard the sick being driven from the city, but we didn't do anything about it. We didn't even think about the fact all the guards were busy. Solitude is such a safe place, we didn't even bother locking the doors. I'm truly sorry for the destruction of your home, I failed as a housecarl.". I snarl, "Tell me faster!". Jordis nods in understanding and starts, "Someone knocked at our door, I thought it was just a salesmen trying to get rid of some fruit or something. When I answered it five people forced their way into the house, all of them dressed in the garb of The Crusaders of The Nine. One of them subdued each of us, including the dog. They tied the girls up in your room, Lydia near the enchanter, and me in the spare room. They just let the dog run free, but one of them kept saying she'd like to kill it. They poured oil, placed bear fat, and threw rags all over the house. Four of them left, but one remained with a torch. He kept going on and on about 'cleansing sin' from Solitude. He stated the kids are the children of two sinners, so they'd grow up to be sinners and didn't deserve to live. He said Lydia and I served you two, so we needed to be 'cleaned'. He kept rattling off your sins, they were-".

I cut her off by saying, "Taking a female Khajiit who's a werewolf as a unmarried lover?". She nods and says, "Bingo.". I feel my insides tighten in anger and tell her, "I know who did this.". Lydia's eyes shimmer in pity as she tells me, "The talk of the entire town is that Rorlund had some of his devout do this, and even Elisif thinks it's true. But we can't arrest him.". I practically snarl, "What!?". Jordis pats Lydia's hand and explains, "We didn't see the faces of the crusaders, and the guards didn't find any uniforms in the temple. We may not like to admit it, but he still might not have done it. I highly doubt he's innocent, but we can't just arrest whoever we want.". I begin fighting to get up and snarl, "I killed someone who tried to rape my lover, and I killed a woman who did rape my lover and tried to take over Whiterun! I'll kill Rorlund myself if I have to.". Jordis coughs and points behind me, and when I turn I find Elisif glaring at me. The queen rubs her temples and tells me, "You can't. Rape and genocide we can prove, we can't prove this. I'm sorry Rikke, but if you do something illegal I'll have to punish you like a normal citizen. Please, just calm down!". I snarl, but tell her, "Fine! But if I see Rorlund take one step in my house, I'll rip his head off.". Elisif nods and says, "You would have all the right to, he'd be trespassing. Now, I have one more matter. A,". She coughs, "note was found nailed to your door.". She offers it to me, and I snatch it from her hand. I read it as quick as I can, my eyes scanning the page.

The Crusaders of The Nine are watching you, and we don't like what we see.

You sin in the darkness of night, fucking your whore until you both collapse.

You feed your children sweet lies, assuring them they aren't parentless bastards.

You have your servants do your bidding, never working for yourself.

You laugh at the one true religion, ignoring the commandments laid out for you.

We are the rays of light in the darkness.

We are the protectors of holy men and women.

We are the hands of the gods.

We are The Crusaders of The Nine.

And we are coming for you.

I crumple up the paper, throw it to the side, and snarl, "Bring me my sword!". Elisif instantly says, "It's no use, the guards have searched all of the city.". I groan and ask, "Have 'The Crusaders' done anything else?". Elisif nods and says, "They've sent notes like this to anyone who isn't a Nord, whoever prefers people of the same sex, and anyone who isn't a follower of The Nine. And, they beat up three citizens, burned down two houses besides yours, killed three citizens, and hung a guard from the gates of Solitude.". My eyes widen and I ask, "Why in Oblivion hasn't something been done?!". The queen groans and tells me, "The guards are idiots, and they have horrible response time. Thankfully, Taarie and Endarie managed to kill one of their members. Unfortunately, the body was burnt to a crisp and couldn't be identified.". I rub my head and ask, "What do we do?". The queen shrugs and says, "I don't have a clue.". I sigh and tell her, "That makes two of us.". I put my head in my hands, despair washing over me. What in oblivion am I suppose to do now?